“At 18 I had pennies, but money didn’t make me bold. At 19 I had dollars, but it didn’t dull the pain of being sold. At 20 I had hundreds, but then I met him and was found. At 21 I had thousands, but all I wanted was to be bound.”

“At 23 I had dollars, but life changed and made me rich. At 25 I had hundreds, but it wasn’t enough to stop my killing itch. At 27 I had thousands, but my reputation didn’t set me free. At 29 I had millions, but I met her and could finally see.”

Tasmin was killed on her 18th birthday. She had everything planned out. A psychology degree, a mother who pushed her to greatness, and a future anyone would die for. But then her murderer saved her life, only to sell her into a totally different existence.

Elder went from penniless to stinking rich with one twist of fate. His lifetime of crime and shadows of thievery are behind him but no matter the power he now wields, it’s not enough. He has an agenda to fulfil and he won’t stop until it’s complete.

But then they meet.

A beaten slave and a richly dressed thief. Money is what guided their separate fates. Money is what brought them together. And money is ultimately what destroys them.

She was poor.

He was rich.

Together…they were bankrupt.

my review

Believe it or not but this is my second book by this author and I didn’t like the first one that I’ve read by her. So I don’t know what hit me when I picked up this book but I got to tell you, I freaking love it! Seriously, the story is right up my alley. The plot is dark with lots of elements that would make the reader really feel the pain and the live that Tasmin or as she is later called Pim is living every single day at the hands of her buyer/captor/master.

After trusting the wrong person, Pim’s life makes a 180° turn and we get to see all almost all the gory details of her captivity. She get’s beaten so many times, I honestly don’t know how she’s still alive and not only that, the beatings are not the worst part. The sexual and mental abuse are most horrific parts of her captivity. She gets depersonified and is treated as an expensive possession, master’s favourite toy, that he quite often likes to share with his horrible friends. I have so much respect and empathy for her. She’s such a strong character and I love how the story unfolds. They may have broken her body but they never broke her spirit and that is what makes her a survivor and not just a victim. The ending is my favourite part, since we get to see at least some justice for what’s been done to her.

Her captor is an extreme sadist and clearly very disturbed. No sane person would do such horror as he did. We get to see glimpses of his mental instability, like near the end of the story, and his obsession with his possession is truly on a level I will never fully understand. I think you’d have to be at least a bit mentally ill to fully grasp his reasons for his doings. His friends very pure evil but he himself, is in my opinion, just a sick individual that needed some serious help. But in the end, I guess fate took that into it’s own hands and I’m actually really glad by the story’s ending.

Now, as for Elder’s character, I still don’t quite get him. He’s not a good person but I also don’t think he’s a completely evil one, either. He’s definitely intrigued by this girl, who writes s many notes to No One. We get to see some glimpses of his personality in his POV but I think there is still so much hidden and that makes him a very unpredictable yet very interesting person.

I think the following books will be quite entertaining and with many plot twists. I definitely am looking forward to that and can’t wait for the next book to come out!

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

excerpt

Fuck this.

I stalked forward.

My hand came up.

The urge to soothe her catapulted my fingers to her cheek. My skin erupted from her delicate heat. I’d already had my single touch when I’d petted her hair. I wasn’t permitted a second.

But it didn’t stop me.

One second, she stood close, arching her chin at the door.

The next, she was across the cage, flying into a stack of boxes that tumbled in a clatter of butcher knives, butter knives, and sharp forks.

Her eyes turned luminous in the gloom, locking on mine with rage.

Shit.

I’d forgotten myself by feeling sorry for this beaten wraith, but she hadn’t forgotten her overwhelming hatred of men.

I didn’t look away. But I didn’t explain myself, either.

I’d borrowed her for the night. If I wanted to touch her, I could. The fact that she’d leapt away meant I could report her to her master and have her punished.

Or you could punish her instead.

The distance between us grew thicker as we breathed fast.

I waited…wanting to know just how deep her education in pleasure flowed. Tearing her gaze from mine, she swallowed hard. Piece by piece, she hid her loathing, replacing it with reluctant acceptance.

Inching closer, her toes nudged aside sharp blades as she made her way to me and fell to her knees on the cold concrete.

Half of me jolted with insane lust. Most of me shied away with repulsion as her straggly hair covered her face but not before I saw the twisted disgust and echoing despair.

“Get up,” I murmured. Even though my voice was low, the cavern of the garage amplified it, layering it with bite.

Instantly, she swooped up. The crackle of her joints and misused cartilage in her bones sounded like tiny gunfire.

about the author

Pepper Winters wears many roles. Some of them include writer, reader, sometimes wife. She loves dark, taboo stories that twist with your head. The more tortured the hero, the better, and she constantly thinks up ways to break and fix her characters. Oh, and sex… her books have sex.

She loves to travel and has an amazing, fabulous hubby who puts up with her love affair with her book boyfriends.